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The Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy), also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. It is one of the three Grand Tours, and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The most recent winner (2009) is Denis Menchov.
[edit] HistoryThe Giro was inspired by the Tour de France, and just as the French race was intended to boost circulation of L'Auto, so Emilio Costamagna, the editor of La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper, aimed to increase his circulation. The first Giro d'Italia started on May 13, 1909 at Milan, with eight stages totalling 2,448 kilometres (1,521 miles). Luigi Ganna was the first winner. The Giro is the second most important stage race in the world (after the Tour), and along with the Tour and the Road World Cycling Championship it makes up the Triple Crown of Cycling. The Tour de France, the Giro and the Vuelta a España are the three Grand Tours of the road bicycle racing season. [edit] ClassificationsWhereas the overall leader of the Tour de France is awarded a yellow jersey (originally to correspond with L'Auto 's yellow pages), since 1931 the leader of the general classification in the Giro sports the maglia rosa (pink jersey), which corresponds with newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport 's pink newsprint. The leader of the mountains classification wears the maglia verde (green jersey). The leader of the points classification wears the maglia ciclamino (mauve jersey), the best young rider wears the maglia bianca (white jersey).  Italian Felice Gimondi holds the record for the most podium finishes: nine in total, consisting of three victories, two second places and four third place finishes. In the 1940's, there also was a black jersey, for the cyclist who was last in the general classification. [edit] General classificationMain article: general classification in the Giro d'Italia The maglia rosa, or pink jersey, is worn each day by the cyclist with the fastest overall time up to that point of the Giro. The rider wearing the jersey may change from day to day, but given the glory and extra exposure for the team, individual and sponsor of the rider who holds the jersey, teams often make extra efforts to keep the jersey on the race leader from day to day. In fact, each team brings several pink jerseys to the race in case one of their riders becomes the leader. The cyclist with the lowest time at the end of the Giro's last stage wins the Giro. This is similar to the Yellow jersey used in the Tour de France.
[edit] Mountains classificationMain article: Mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia During mountain stages of the race, points are awarded to the rider who is first to reach the top of each significant climb. Points are also awarded for riders who closely follow the leader up each climb. The number of points awarded varies according to the hill classification, which is determined by the steepness and length of that particular hill. The green jersey is worn by the rider who, at the start of each stage, has the largest amount of climbing points. If a rider holds both the pink and green jerseys, the green jersey is worn by the rider in second place. At the end of the Giro, the rider holding the most climbing points wins the climbing competition. In fact, some riders, particularly those who are neither sprinters nor particularly good at time-trialing, may attempt only to win this particular competition within the race. This is a similar competition to the polka dot jersey award of the Tour de France, except that the Giro uses three categories for mountains while the Tour uses five. In the Giro, there are no Hors Catégorie or fourth-category ratings. Also, the Cima Coppi, the highest point reached in a particular Giro, is worth more points than the race's other first-category climbs.[1] In 2009, this classification was won by Stefano Garzelli.
[edit] Points classificationMain article: Points classification in the Giro d'Italia Points are given to the rider who is first to reach the end of, or determined places during, any stage of the Giro. The jersey is worn by the rider who at the start of each stage, has the largest amount of points. The rider whom at the end of the Giro, holds the most points, wins the points competition. This is a similar competition as the green jersey of the Tour de France, with one key difference. Whereas in the Tour de France flat stages award more points than climbing stages, in the Giro all stages award the same points on the same scale. The stage win awards 25 points, second place is worth 20 points, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point less per place down the line, to a single point for fifteenth. The 2009 winner was Danilo Di Luca. In addition, stages can have one or more intermediate sprints: 6, 4, and 2 points are awarded to the first three cyclists passing these lines. These points also count toward the TV classification (Traguardo Volante, or "flying sprint"), a separate award.
[edit] Youth CompetitionMain article: Young rider classification in the Giro d'Italia The youth competition is a competition within the giro, celebrating young riders. The white jersey is given to the rider under the age of 25 who gets the highest ranking in the general classification. In 2009 it was won by Kevin Seeldraeyers. [edit] List of overall winners[edit] Victories per country
[edit] Giro d'Italia stage victories
[edit] RecordsMost Giro d'Italia victories: 5 by Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi, and Eddy Merckx Most days in the maglia rosa: 76 by Eddy Merckx Most stage victories in one Giro d'Italia: 12 by Alfredo Binda in the 1927 Giro d'Italia Most consecutive stage victories: 8 by Alfredo Binda in the 1929 Giro d'Italia [edit] See also
[edit] References
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